Oronoco Private Well Sealing Round 2

Protecting groundwater aquifers in Olmsted County is critical as the community continues to experience high growth. The City of Oronoco has been committed to protecting its groundwater and drinking water supply as City officials have worked over the past 50 years to secure funding for community wastewater and municipal water systems to serve the community. Oronoco is the largest unsewered community in the State of MN. In the summer of 2017, the City received funding from the State Legislature to complete a new wastewater study and alternatives analysis, and ultimately it was decided the community would build a new wastewater treatment plant. Oronoco secured placement on the Drinking Water Revolving Fund (DWRF) and the Clean Water Revolving Fund (CWRF) 2020 Intended Use Plan (IUP), completed an application for a Point Source Implementation Grant (PSIG) Funding and secured $24.027 M in project funding through the State of Minnesota's 2020 Bonding Bill.

Residents of Oronoco historically depended on individual wells for their potable water needs. Many of these wells were constructed prior to State well code and some of them have elevated levels of nitrates and have history of bacterial contamination. The City of Oronoco constructed its own water supply, storage, and distribution system in 2009 / 2010. Oronoco's water system serves approximately 2/3 of the City including many of its existing residential and non-residential properties. These improvements were an important first step in eliminating existing well penetrations into the groundwater and providing residents with a safe drinking water and fire protection system. As part of this initial expansion, Olmsted SWCD and the City of Oronoco worked together to provide funding to seal ~50 wells.

The current expansion of the water distribution system is proposed as part of the Wastewater System improvements to serve areas that are currently served with sewer but are not yet served by the water system. The water distribution system expansion will serve 129 additional parcels with municipal water. Parcels being served by the current water system expansion are illustrated by the blue diagonal hatch on the attached figure. The City of Oronoco will be able to provide water service to new customers that are located west of TH 52 (except for 1st Place SW) and along portions of 5th Street NW and 2nd Avenue SE and are scheduled to receive water on or before October 30, 2023. In order to do this, the City of Oronoco is requiring that residents of these parcels make their connection to the municipal water service and complete their well sealing within 12 months of the service connection becoming available to the property owner.

In order to transition Oronoco residents to a safer and more dependable water supply, approximately 75 wells within the Oronoco Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMA) and sensitive groundwater vulnerability area will be sealed as part of this commitment. Each property owner who receives water service is required to extend the water service pipe from the curb stop (near the property line) to the existing pipe entering the home or business. Each property owner is also solely responsible for all costs to construct the water service pipe, completion of associated plumbing improvements, installation of a water meter, site restoration and private well abandonment. The grant funding will be utilized to provide cost-share to residents to help off-set the cost of private well abandonment.